Children love to watch Minecraft YouTube videos… lots of them. YouTube is like Pandora’s Box when it comes to Minecraft. Once they start watching them, you will need to familiarize yourself with seeds, mod and texture/resource pack installations, ‘how-to’s,’ or just pretend those words confuse you.
They will fail and they will get frustrated sometimes, it’s just how it is.
Creative mode is like handing your child the keys to your car and telling them, “Just go nuts.” The joy ride is fun, but it usually results in a crash. TNT…everywhere!
The Minecraft Wiki is a great starting point for both you and your child. It will teach you both how to utilize the game before playing. Otherwise, you’ll end up hearing “Mom, Dad; how do I craft…” every 5 minutes.
Children love to spend an insane amount of time watching other people playing Minecraft too. Bear in mind that some may contain bad language in their videos. YouTubers stampylongnose, iBallisticSquid, and Amy Lee are clean (language), fun, and even educational.
Watching the Minecraft YouTube videos will have them wanting to migrate toward modded Xboxes and then that is all you will hear about. If they do play on consoles, having them play the tutorial is a must. This is very helpful when it comes to learning the basics.
Become Online Savvy
It’s best to keep in mind that your child will want you to play too; either on a realm (hosted online server with a monthly fee) or via local Wi-Fi. It can be fun, but your child will usually want to play a lot more than you do.
Single-player is fun but only for so long. Most kids (and grown-ups too) will eventually want to play with others. It’s just a lot more fun that way. You will want to learn about servers before they reach that point, so you can find one that is both age-appropriate and safe. This will also be a great time to have the “Internet safety talk.”
That will be all they will want to do and will go to their friends to play and they end up playing Minecraft there too. They will suddenly speak an entirely different language and occasionally you won’t know if they are talking about something that happened in Minecraft, with an imaginary friend.
Books, books, and more books
They will want the companion books and the fiction books that have been published. They are helpful books about Minecraft as well for both you and your child. Everything from building furniture to traps, Redstone to enchanting, and much more.
Join a family friendly community
The most important thing is to play with them. Enjoy the game together and find an awesome community online. Gaming Mommies is fantastic place to get lots of information, plus find safe servers to play on with or without your children. They also have a Minecraft group on Facebook for mommies (and daddies) to get together.
Happy gaming.
